Encinitas falls 5-1 in LL Region semis

Austin Machado of the Encinitas All-Stars leaps for a ball during play against the Mountain Ridge All-Stars from Las Vegas during the Little League West Regional semifinals in San Bernardino. Encinitas fell to Mountain Ridge 5-1, ending their run at the Little League World Series.

Howard Lipin

Austin Machado of the Encinitas All-Stars leaps for a ball during play against the Mountain Ridge All-Stars from Las Vegas during the Little League West Regional semifinals in San Bernardino. Encinitas fell to Mountain Ridge 5-1, ending their run at the Little League World Series.

Austin Machado of the Encinitas All-Stars leaps for a ball during play against the Mountain Ridge All-Stars from Las Vegas during the Little League West Regional semifinals in San Bernardino. Encinitas fell to Mountain Ridge 5-1, ending their run at the Little League World Series. (Howard Lipin)

Giving up hits to an opponent with lively bats was not a problem for the Encinitas Little League All-Stars on Friday. It was the pitches that didn’t find the vicinity of the plate that cost them dearly.

Mountain Ridge, hitting .364 in the West Region tournament going into the game, managed only a tournament-low three hits. But buoyed by walks, wild pitches, passed balls and hit batters, the Nevada team still powered to a 5-1 victory over Encinitas in the semifinals of the West Region playoffs at Houghton Stadium.

The defeat ended Encinitas’ dream of going to Williamsport, Pa., to become the 11th San Diego team overall and third in six years to play in the Little League World Series.

“An atypical effort for us, for sure,” said Encinitas manager Chaz Gagne, whose team had only seven errors in the previous four games of the tournament and committed five on Friday.

“It wasn’t our day. That’s baseball, right? … For us, this has been about the whole journey, not about a single destination. We didn’t go in saying ‘Williamsport or bust.’ It’s not a disappointment. We didn’t expect to come this far.”

Mountain Ridge will play in Saturday’s 6 p.m. region final against Northern California, which beat Hawaii 1-0.

Mountain Ridge scored two runs in the first, one in the third and two in the fourth. Encinitas notched its only run in the first.

Mountain Ridge’s two in the first came without benefit of a hit, with both runs scoring on the same play. Pitcher Niko Ortega threw a wild pitch, and when catcher Austin Machado fired from the backstop to get the runner coming home, the ball caromed away from Ortega and a second runner scored.

Encinitas All-Stars-regional semifinals 8/8/2014

In the third, the Nevadans scored one run on a lone single, aided by passed balls. They capped their scoring with two runs in the fourth, manufactured with a double and two errors.

“There’s more than one way to win a baseball game, and it’s getting on base, whether it’s through errors or walks,” Mountain Ridge manager Ashton Cave said.

Even without the miscues, Encinitas was going to have a difficult time overcoming Mountain Ridge starting pitcher Austin Kryszczuk. The hard-throwing lefty showed pinpoint control in striking out 11, which gave him 19 strikeouts for the tournament.

Still, Encinitas had its chances. In the fourth, the San Diegans loaded the bases with singles by E.Q. Workinger, Pete Gagne and Ryan Martinez. But Kryszczuk escaped with three strikeouts.

J.P. Kraus scored Encinitas’ only run in the first when he singled and eventually came around on an error and two sacrifices.

Ortega started the game and pitched 1 2/3 innings, allowing no hits while striking out three, before yielding to Encinitas’ 6-feet-3 ace Spencer Jones. Chaz Gagne said he didn’t start Jones because he has a tendency to run up his pitch count early. Jones allowed three hits and struck out seven.

The pain of the defeat was evident on the tear-streaked faces of the Encinitas kids as they departed the field, their 19-game summer run over. Gagne expressed his pride for a group whose players represent six teams in the league and have been working out together since December.

“You preach on the front end that everyone plays a role and no one person stands out,” the manager said. “I think midway through the tournament they started to realize that and to buy into it. I hope they leave with that selfless feeling. You put everything into it, you do your job, and it will lead to something bigger.”